Richard Crowe to Retire; Helfried Weinzerl Elected President and Chief Executive Officer of Bürkle North America

Category: Company

Crowe retires after 30 Year Bürkle Association

Garden Grove, Ca., November 1, 2013:At the recent Bürkle North America Board of Directors meeting held in Freudenstadt, Germany current Chief Executive Officer and Company founder, Richard (Dick) Crowe, announced his pending retirement effective Dec 31, 2013. Concurrently, Helfried Weinzerl, current President and Chief Operating Officer, was elected to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer. Crowe was reelected as Chairman of the Board.

Crowe’s association with Bürkle began in 1983 while Vice President of Sales at Excellon Automation. Excellon and Bürkle recognized the need for precision lamination equipment in the printed wiring board industry as multilayer product was, at that time, beginning to dominate printed circuit board design and manufacturing. The lamination equipment augmented Excellon’s approach to offer a full service product line to the mechanical side of PWB fabrication. Subsequently, Bürkle and Excellon separated in early 1991 and Crowe formed BürkleUSA and then Bürkle North America. Bürkle products were then successfully introduced to the Plastic Card Lamination industry; the photovoltaic and glass industry and successfully reintroduced to the woodworking industry before the link up of the woodworking product line in the U.S. with Stiles Machinery in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Crowe commented “the association with Bürkle has undoubtedly been the highlight of a 50 year career in the Capital Goods Industry. Bürkle is a fine German company with excellent products and good people. I have been able to make many friendships at Bürkle that will last a lifetime”.

Crowe also said…. “The election of Helfried Weinzerl to lead Bürkle for the next several years is an excellent addition. Helfried brings a strong engineering and business background to the company and will continue to manage Bürkle North America with a strong emphasis on customer support, integrity and professionalism.”

Acting in the capacity as Chairman and as an Advisor to the company through 2014 Crowe’s association will enable continuity with the existing customer base and help to identify new markets and opportunities.

More on Bürkle: Bürkle North America, a California Corporation, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bürkle GmbH, a diversified special machinery manufacture having core competency providing precision lamination and coating systems to a variety of industries.. Bürkle GmbH is located in the Black Forest Region of South West Germany employing over 700 people and having a nu mber of manufacturing locations in Europe and China.